


But the arms of the ocean deliver me..

by JoyfullyyoursDav



Series: Never Let Me Go (Twins' Mom AU series) [8]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Bad Parenting, Dysfunctional Family, Elves, First Meetings, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Long Lost/Secret Relatives, Motherhood, Original Character(s), Post-Canon, Twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-04-16 09:52:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14162214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoyfullyyoursDav/pseuds/JoyfullyyoursDav
Summary: Kravitz usually knows how to handle necromancers, but today is different. This necromancer is Taako and Lup's mother. Reaper training never prepared him for this.





	But the arms of the ocean deliver me..

**Author's Note:**

> Part 8! We're getting close to the end of Leema's journey.
> 
> Title is from, as usual, Florence + the Machines.

Kravitz took a long, hard look at the woman standing in front of him. The woman with the bleeding hand, the dark hair that spilled out from underneath a fur-lined cap, the hungry expression on her face. He stepped closer, hand positioned to summon his scythe, if need be. “Tell me again,” he said slowly. “ _Who_ are you?”

She crossed her arms with a slight smile. “I’m guessing you know Taako and Lup then,” she said.

Something about her was familiar. It could be the smirk, slightly crooked on one side. It could be the effortless way she exuded defiance. It could be the quickness of her retort, the hint of sarcasm in her voice. But despite all this, Kravitz had no way of knowing who this woman actually was. He’d seen a lot of smiles, been subjected to a lot of sarcasm. Familiarity meant nothing, not when you’d been around as long as he had. It was most likely that she was just another obsessed fan.

Either way, it didn’t matter. Whoever this woman was, Kravitz knew where his loyalty was. With Taako. With Lup and Barry and the rest. With the group that had become his family, despite all odds. He didn’t know what this woman’s game was, so he would give away nothing. “They’re friends of mine,” he told her carefully.

The woman’s eyes lit up, a huge smile broke across her face. “Well, then,” she breathed, “I am _very_ happy to meet you. I’m Leema.” And she took a few steps toward him, offering her hand.

He shook it. Her hand was freezing, and he could see now that her lips were tinted blue. “Kravitz,” he said. “Pleasure. Hey, speaking of introductions. Where the hell are we?”

“Just outside Armigar,” Leema said.

“Uh,” he said, “what planet?”

“Oh! Right. Iliodou.”

“Alright,” Kravitz said slowly. “Why don’t we get somewhere warm? No offense, but you look like you’re about to freeze solid where you stand. And I’m pretty sure the Raven Queen didn’t send me here to reap you just yet.”

“There’s a little trading post village at the base of this mountain,” Leema said.

Kravitz flicked his wrist and his enormous, curved scythe appeared in hand. Leema, startled, stepped back a few paces, but Kravitz gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry,” he said, and then moved the scythe up and down slowly, dragging the blade through the air, feeling for the right place to cut. When he found it, he swiped down with the blade quickly, slicing a portal in the empty space.

“We can step through to the base of the mountain,” he said. And although Leema looked worried, she nodded and stepped through the portal. Kravitz followed. As quickly as possible, they found a tavern in the center of the village, and once inside the warm building, Kravitz ordered two cups of tea.

Sitting down across a table from this woman was awkward. The truth was, Kravitz had no way of verifying who this woman was. In the seven years that they’d known each other, Taako had only mentioned his parents once—without emotion, without a larger conversation about it. One day, Kravitz had asked him about his parents, and Taako replied, “They bounced quick. Don’t really remember them.” That was all. Over the years, Kravitz had picked up bits and pieces about Taako and Lup's childhood. How they were passed around. How they ran away at age twelve and forged their own way. And Lup, although more open to talking about their past than Taako was—it was through her, in fact, that Kravitz learned most of the details—she was similarly tight-lipped about their parents. Kravitz had taken their cue and didn’t pry.

“You have to understand,” Kravitz told Leema. “Lup and Taako are famous across reality. You aren’t the first necromancer who's violated the laws of nature just to meet them.”

“I’m not a necromancer,” Leema said. “I barely knew what I was doing back there.”

“Sure didn’t seem like it,” Kravitz replied. “You got the Raven Queen’s attention. That’s not easy.”

Leema only shrugged. And with that, Kravitz believed her. Whoever she was, she wasn’t a necromancer. She took no pride in what she’d done—she didn’t even seem to realize that he was giving her a compliment. Whether or not she was telling the truth about anything else, this ritual had clearly been nothing more than a means to an end.

“How can I believe you?” he asked.

“Well,” Leema said. “You must be close with Taako and Lup. Right? That’s why the Raven Queen called on you to…handle this?”

Kravitz sighed, wishing he had more control over the situation. Wishing he’d been able to lie faster, come up with some kind of reason for why he was summoned. He used to be good at lying on the job, at getting information out of people and giving nothing in return.

Then again, he hadn’t exactly expected to meet his boyfriend’s mother today. “Yes. I know them well.”

“So then you must know their mother abandoned them as babies, and hasn't seen them since they were six.”

“I didn’t know that, actually,” Kravitz said. “They don’t talk about their parents.”

And, with a jolt of surprise, he saw that this wounded her. She dropped her eyes to the tabletop, staring hard at her cup. She didn’t speak, and after a few moments, rubbed her eyes as if refusing to cry. And this, more than anything else she had said so far, convinced him. Yes. This had to be Taako and Lup’s mother, sitting across from him. Somehow, against all odds, their mother was alive and had summoned the Raven Queen in order to find them.

It didn’t make sense. Nothing about this made sense. But he believed it.

“Tell me how this happened,” Kravitz said. “Tell me everything.” And Leema started talking.

 

She told him all that she knew. About the Ever-Night, the legends, how she found out Taako and Lup’s identities. The Institute, communing with her sister, her conversations with Pan and Istus. And when she was finished, she asked him many questions. Are they happy? Are they healthy? Do they have a family?

But this man, Kravitz, refused to answer her. “I’ll tell you that they’re alive and well,” he said. “But beyond that, I’m sorry. They should decide how much you know about them.”

Leema nodded. “I understand,” she said. “Gods, I _agree_. I’m just—you have to realize. You’re the first living person I’ve spoken to who actually _knows_ them. Who knows them as they are _now_. I’m…” Again, she blinked back tears. “I’m overwhelmed,” she said quietly.

A small smile appeared on Kravitz’s face. “Well, I don’t know about the  _living_  part, but yeah,” he said.

“Oh! Of course. You’re a reaper.”

“An emissary of the Raven Queen,” Kravitz corrected.

Something dawned on Leema then, and her mouth dropped open. “An emissary,” she said. “That means Lup…Lup’s a _grim_ _reaper_?”

Kravitz cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “Again, I don’t think it’s appropriate—”

“Oh, you don’t have to answer. That’s fine.” Leema fumbled through her bag. “I’m taking up a lot of your time,” she told him, “and I certainly don’t mean to. And I respect that you won’t answer my questions. But—this is an enormous favor I’m asking—can you do something for me? Can you—” She pulled out a piece of blank parchment from her bag. “Can you give them a letter? From me?”

Kravitz was quiet for a moment. His expression was impossible to read. Finally he said, “Yeah, alright. I can do that.”

With shaky hands, Leema began scrawling a note. She wrote in Elvish, without being fully aware that she was doing so. When she penned the small  _teru_ and  _lemb_ in the twins' new names, tears sprung to her eyes. She wrote the rest of the note with slightly blurred vision. She tried not to think about the content of the letter too much, or else she’d belabor every word and possibly miss this opportunity. She focused on brevity. On writing from her heart and nothing else.

When she was finished, she passed the parchment across the table to Kravitz. “You can read it if you want,” she said. This man—whatever his relationship to the twins—clearly cared about them. She had nothing to hide from anyone who loved her children. Who had provided her children things she never had. She would deny such people nothing.

And Kravitz couldn’t help himself. He read the note quickly.

 _Dear Taako and Lup,_  
_I don’t expect forgiveness, I don't expect anything. All I hope for is the chance to tell you I’m sorry, answer any questions you have and listen to anything you want to say. I want to tell you how wrong I was, if that’s something you want to hear. And if it’s not, I’ll accept that. I just want you to know I’m here, I’ve been looking, and I’m willing to meet if you are._  
_I know I’m not your mother. I haven’t earned that. But as long as I live, you are my cherished and thought-about son and daughter._  
_\- Leema_

Kravitz pocketed the note and stood up. “I’ll give this to them,” he said. “And I’ll tell them what you’ve told me.”

“Thank you,” Leema told him. “ _Thank you_ , Kravitz.”

“I can’t…you understand that I can’t…”

“Yes.”

“Alright. Well—”

“Wait,” Leema said. “How will I know if—I mean, how will they find me if—”

Kravitz smiled. “I’ll be able to find you,” he said. “And they’ll be able to come, or I can bring you to them. Might have to get some clearances first, but…” He cleared this throat and said, “And, hey. Lay off the necromancy, okay? I’m not supposed to let people off on first offenses, but in this case—”

“Yes, of course. Thank you. You don't know what this means to me.”

And with that, Kravitz summoned his scythe again, cutting a portal quickly into the space beside him and stepping through. Nearby patrons turned to look, mouths hanging open, at the place where a man had just disappeared. And all that remained was Leema. Sitting alone and, despite the tavern's warmth, trembling still.

She had done it. She'd been trying to get a message to the twins, and she'd finally done it. Now all she could do was wait and see what happened.


End file.
